Supporters unhappy with Team Anna’s ‘political alternative’ decision

Aug 3, New Delhi: Nine days after their fast, Anna Hazare and his Team, announced on Thursday that they will end their agitation on Friday at 5 pm. This comes after Team Anna made a dramatic announcement of giving the country a political alternative on Thursday.

While Anna Hazare said he will stay out of it, his supporters say they want a revolution and not another political party.

“I’m against this decision. Anna should take it back. This is a movement and should remain that way,” one of the supporters said. “I’ve come from Jaipur to request Anna to take the path of a revolution and not party politics,” another supporter added.

Anna Hazare’s supporters feel it is not right to end the movement. ” It is wrong to end this movement. This revolution will die down if we form a political party now,” a supporter said.

Hazare’s announcement of a political alternative got an immediate response on social networking sites, with most welcoming the move while some wondered how the apolitical movement was suddenly changing colours. India’s next general elections are due in 2014 and political manoeuvering has begun keeping the polls in mind.

But the government was quick to react, with Congress minister Ambika Soni saying “we had always held that Team Anna was goaded by politics, and it is a good thing that they have come out in the open with their intention”.

As Team Anna’s plan to form a political alternative on Thursday created a buzz, the government and Congress took a jibe at them saying their “real intention” has come out in the open while BJP said the civil society group has every right to form a political party.

“We have always said that these people seemed inspired by politics. It is good that whatever the intention was has come out clear. Many of the stances they took seem to suggest this. I am glad that they have gone ahead,” Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni told reporters in New Delhi.

“Now they will realise, how much work you have to do in politics and what are the difficulties and compulsions,” she added.

However, Soni also maintained that it was everyone’s right to enter public life and Team Anna should go ahead and contest elections if they wanted to change the system.

Soni was asked by reporters if she thought the decision to announce launching of a political alternative was an exit strategy used by Team Anna to end their fast.

“Only they know what was their motive to sit for fast. I had on two or three occasions in my personal capacity asked them that they should please clear their motives – whether they want to join politics or end the fast,” she said.

Soni also said that those accusing the government of not having brought the Lokpal should understand that the Bill was now a property of the Parliament.

“Now they have made their point and accuse the government of not bringing the Lokpal. This isn’t the truth. Lokpal Bill was passed by Lok Sabha, Lokpal Bill was passed by Rajya Sabha by government in office,” she said.

“It wasn’t passed because everybody wanted to discuss it further and further, Lokpal Bill is with a select committee of Parliament. It is the property of the Parliament, so they must understand before accusing the government from morning till night,” Soni added.

However, Hazare, who the government has alleged was covertly backed by the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said he would “not join the system but will support it from outside”.

He also proposed a kind of a referendum on the political alternative, asking his supporters to answer questions on how they should ensure their candidates are not corrupt, or turn corrupt after entering Parliament.

Kumar Vishwas, a key Team Anna member, asked if the reason for their sudden decision to enter politics was because they had failed to move the government with their fast, said their goal was the Jan Lokpal Bill. “If the government calls a special session of Parliament tomorrow and passes the bill and forms a Special Investigation Team to probe the 14 ministers for graft, then we are not interested in forming a political party.”

Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Sitaram Yechury, reacting to the news, told reporters: “It is good they should come in politics but they have to decide what kind of politics they want to do.”

Earlier, a group of eminent personalities, including jurist VR Krishna Iyer, former Army chief VK Singh, spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and actor Anupam Kher, had urged Team Anna to call off their fast and seek to form an “alternative political force”.

Posted by Samir
on Friday, August 3rd, 2012. Filed under India News.
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